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Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson appeared at the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) Conference last week to accept the “Andrew Breitbart Defender of the First Amendment Award” (Talk about Orwellian “doublespeak”!).

Mr. Robertson fiercely defends the 1st with such bon mots as

“Women with women. Men with men. They committed indecent acts with one another. And they received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. They’re full of murder, envy, strife, hatred. They are insolent, arrogant God haters. They are heartless. They are faithless. They are senseless. They are ruthless. They invent ways of doing evil.” Wild Game Supper in Pottstown, Pennsylvania (2010)

Phil, as you’ve probably guessed, prefers different plumbing in his mates. And, it seems, the newer the plumbing, the better.

“A good woman is hard to find. Mainly because these boys are waiting until they get to be about 20 years old before they marry ‘em. Look, you wait till they get to be about 20 years old, they only picking that’s going to take place is your pocket. You gotta marry these girls when they’re 15 or 16, they’ll pick your ducks. You need to check with mom and dad about that, of course.” Sportsmen’s Ministry in Georgia (2009)

Now, don’t be thinking that Mr Robertson is just a borderline pedophile and a LGBT hater. Au contraire, mon ami! He has enough hate to go around the world.

“Why do they murder and why do they hate us? Because all of them … 80 years of history, they all want to conquer the world, they all rejected Jesus and they’re all famous for murder. Nazis, Shintoists, Communists and the Mohammedists. Every one of them the same way.” Hillsboro Church of Christ in El Dorado, Arkansas (2008)

By one way of looking at it, Phil deserves this award in much the same way J.B. Stoner would have deserved it back in 1970. Mr. Stoner won a fight with the FCC and was allowed to say “nigger” in his campaign commercials for Georgia Governor. (Btw, he lost in the primary to Jimmy Carter.)

Along with his normal “stir the teapot” rhetoric at CPAC, Mr. Robertson made a statement that turns out to be true. (Whoda thunkit?) Of course, he twisted a few details and left out a few others. But never fear. That’s why I’m here.

First, the statement:

“There is a penalty to be paid from what the beatniks and had morphed into the hippies. You say “What do you call the hundred and ten million people who have sexually transmitted illnesses?” It’s the revenge of the hippies. Sex, drugs and rock-n-roll have come back to haunt us in a bad way.”

The “110,000,000 STIs” (sexually transmitted infections) part is correct and I’ll address that in a moment.

First though, as one of those former hippies, I take umbrage to his attempt to place blame at our collective feet. The sexual revolution of the sixties was based on the development of hormonal contraceptive pills not LSD tabs. Almost everybody was “gettin” some” back then and most of the “getters” didn’t have long hair. (unless they were female, of course.)

Ok, got that out of my system, back to the 110 million.

Mr. Robertson’s statement got me curious, so I decided to do a little checking. His source was a 2013 report by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). There were a few interesting details (like who’s got what and where) in the report that he forgot to mention.

Another thing he forgot to mention is that the CDC states that condoms are “highly effective” in the prevention of STIs. (For some reason, contraceptives are anathema to “right-thinking” conservatives.) Of course, Phil offered his own solution.

“One man, one woman. For life.”

If he were actually historically accurate in his blame casting, there must have been a hell of a lot more beatnik/hippies in the south than any of us knew about. The following are listings of the five worst states for the two most common STIs, as well as the rise of syphilis infections. The numbers listed are out of 100,000 population.

Seven of the nine states listed are in the very “religious” south, so just maybe that might have more to do with the problem than the hippies of five decades ago. Also, since most of these are “Just say no” type sex education states, that might have a hell of a lot more to do with it, as well.

If all this leaves you wanting more of Robertson’s ramblings, check out the video.

Playing “the voice of reason it the midst of this insanity” is Sheldon Whitehouse. Senator Whitehouse is the junior senator from Rhode Island, a state that has endured a couple of polar vortexes this winter.

Act I

Day: Thursday, Feb, 26th, 2015 Scene: U.S. Senate Chamber

Action: Senator Inhofe addressing the chamber

Senator Inhofe: In case we had forgotten because we keep hearing that 2014 has been the warmest year on record, I ask the chair: You know what this is? It’s a snowball and that just from outside here so it’s very, very cold out. Very unseasonal.

We hear the perpetual headline that 2014 has been the warmest year on record but now the script has flipped and I think it’s important since we hear it over and over and over. As we can see with the snowball out there, this is today. This is reality.

Act II

Day: Thursday, Feb, 26th, 2015 (later) Scene: U.S. Senate Chamber

Action: Senator Whitehouse addressing the chamber

Senator Whitehouse: I’d just like to complete my remarks with regard to the Senator from Oklahoma and his snowball. I’d like to ask unanimous consent that I show the Earth Now website on the iPad device that I have.

And if you go to Earth Now it’s actually quite easy to load, and you can see how that polar vortex measurably brings the cold air down to New England where we are right now.

And this is produced by NASA. These are pretty serious people. So you can believe NASA and you can believe what their satellites measure on the planet, or you can believe the Senator With The Snowball.

The United States Navy takes this very seriously, to the point where Admiral Locklear, who is the head of the Pacific Command, has said that climate change is the biggest threat that we face in the Pacific. He’s a career miilitary officer and he’s deadly serious.

You can either believe the United States Navy, or you can believe the Senator With The Snowball.

The religious and faith groups are very clear on this, by and large. I would particularly salute the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has made a very, very clear and strong statements and we are going to hear more from Pope Francis about this when he releases his encyclical and when he speaks to the Joint Session of Congress on September 24th.

And I think that it will be quite clear that you can believe the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Pope Francis, or you can believe the Senator With The Snowball.

In corporate America, there is an immense array of major, significant, intelligent, responsible corporations who are very clear that climate change is real. Companies like Coke and Pepsi. Companies like Ford and GM. And Caterpillar. Companies like Wal-Mart and Target. Companies like VF Industries, which makes a wide array of clothing products, and Nike. Companies like Mars and Nestle.

So, we have our choice. We can believe Coke and Pepsi and Ford and GM and Caterpillar and Wal-Mart and Target and VF Industries and Nike and Mars and Nestle, or we can believe the Senator With The Snowball.

Every major American scientific society has put itself on record — many of them a decade ago — that climate change is deadly real. They measure it, they see it, they know why it happens, the predictions correlate with what we see as they increasingly come true.

And the fundamental principle is that it is derived from carbon pollution, which comes from burning fossil fuels, are beyond legitimate dispute to the point where every leading scientific organization on the planet calls them unequivocal.

So, you can believe every major American scientific society, or you can believe the Senator With The Snowball.

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Public Policy Polling released a new poll on Feb. 24th, that gives us a quick snapshot of Republican attitudes and opinions on some scientific, religious and political subjects.

The polled were all Republicans. 54% of them were male, 46% female. 28% were under 45, 46% were in the 46 – 65 yo age bracket and another 26% were older than 65.

No racial breakdown was recorded, but since these were Republicans it’s a safe bet that the vast majority were Caucasian. There was also no academic breakdown, so it’s impossible to factor that in, especially with the science questions.

Most polled considered themselves somewhat conservative or very conservative. 38% in both categories. 17% of them described themselves as moderate, 6% somewhat liberal and 2% very liberal.

The poll asked two questions on science beliefs and another one on religion.

On Science:

When asked if they believe in evolution, 37% said they do and 49% said they don’t! 10% didn’t know one way or another.

When asked if they believe in global warming, only 25% say they do as opposed to 66% who say they don’t. An additional 10% haven’t decided.

On Religion:

When asked if they would support or oppose establishing Christianity as the national religion, 57% said they would support and 30% said they would oppose. An additional 13% didn’t know.

On Presidential Candidates:

Bearing in mind that we’re almost a year and a half away from the conventions, lets begin by taking a look at who they like and don’t like in their potential presidential candidates.

Of the nine potential candidates listed, the top seven are Tea Party backed and the bottom two are from the “Establishment” wing of the party.

The Republicans polled don’t seem too high on Jeb, but they still love his brother. George came in at 74/21/5.

Now, here’s where it gets interesting. The poll also asked “who would you most like to see as the GOP candidate for President in 2016?”

Scott Walker…25%;

Ben Carson…18%;

Jeb Bush…17%;

Mike Huckabee…10%

(tie) Ted Cruz…5%; Chris Christie…5%

Also-may-run: Rand Paul…4%; Rick Perry…3%; Marco Rubio…3%

The candidates changed positions a bit, with Bush jumping to 3rd, indicating a bit of pragmatism among at least some of the Republican electorate. However, try not to read too much into this part of the poll. History has shown us that this year’s leaders often turn into next year’s losers.

Anyway, the fun’s just beginning. We’ve got 21 months of campaigning ahead. Grab some popcorn (and some aspirin, Maalox and Dramamine) and enjoy the ride.

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I’ve been thinking about writing a column entitled “Nuts in the News“. Problem is, it would probably triple my workload.

Case in point: Just this morning, I ran across Vito Barbieri and Michele Fiore.

Mr. Barbieri is a Regressive Idaho state representative. As such, he was hearing testimony on House Bill #154 (aka the “Physician Physical Presence and Women Protection Act“.) The bill would prohibit doctors prescribing abortion-inducing medication through telemedicine. In other words, they are trying another avenue towards making abortions even harder to get, particularly if you live far from medical facilities. (I should note that Idaho is a VERY rural state.)During the testimony, one of the doctors commented that colonoscopy patients may swallow a small device to allow the doctor an inside look at parts of their colon.

At this point Mr. Barbieri asked,

“Can this same procedure be done in a pregnancy — swallowing a camera and helping the doctor determine what the situation is with the child?”

The doctor had to explain to him that when a woman swallows something, it doesn’t end up in her vagina. (Right now, I have to tell you. I’m stifling a joke that would never get past the censors.)

Normally something like that would take “Nut-of-the-Week” honors, but not this week.

Just a bit south in Nevada, another Regressive lawmaker blew that nuttery out of the water. The state that so generously shared Sue (Pay your doctor with a chicken) Lowden and Sharron (2nd Amendment Remedy) Angle, now gives us Michele Fiore.Ms Fiore is the Assemblywoman representing the folks around NW Loss Wages. (How well, is a matter for her constituents to decide.)

Ms Fiore has made my personal “list of nutteries” before. Just last week, discussing the advantages of gun ownership, she told the New York Times,

“If these young, hot little girls on campus have a firearm, I wonder how many men will want to assault them. The sexual assaults that are occurring would go down once these sexual predators get a bullet in their head.”

Now, Ms Fiore is on a quest that according to her, is “near and dear” to her (teabag-sodden) heart. (On a minor side note, she’s also discovered the cause & cure for cancer.)

She wants to pass what she calls “the Terminally Ill Bill”. Others might be tempted to call it the “Snake-Oil Industry Full-Employment Bill”.

When the doc tells you it’s about time to kiss your butt goodby, she wants to open up “alternatives” to suck up all that cash you can’t take with you. For instance:

“If you have cancer, which I believe is a fungus, and we can put a pic line into your body and we’re flushing with, say, salt water, sodium cardonate ([sic] through that line and flushing out the fungus. These are some procedures that are not FDA-approved in America that are very inexpensive, cost-effective.

(For you non-chemistry majors, her miracle cure of sodium cardonate is commonly called washing soda. It’s used as a water softener.)

What makes this even more stupid is the fact that Ms. Fiore should know better. She owns a home healthcare company. However, that may not be the case for long.

The federal government has filed tax liens amounting to over $1 million. The penalty for screwing with “Uncle” for that amount can include up to five years at “Club Fed”.

Because of her tax situation, (not her nuttery) she was stripped of her legislative positions as Majority Leader and Chair of the Assembly Tax Committee in December.

Al Jazeera and Guardian websites are teasing the release of several hundred HUMINT (Human Intelligence) documents from the CIA, Israel’s Mossad, Britain’s MI6, Russia’s FSB and South Africa’s SSA, Iran’s operatives, “as well as dozens of other services from Asia to the Middle East and Africa.”

The documents, which run from 2006 to December of last year, will be released over several days (gotta keep those clicks coming) look potentially embarrassing to least three countries.

Among the teased:

Netanyahu’s claim of Iranian nuclear progress may have been a bit overblown. (Hell, let’s be honest, if the documents are correct, Bibi lied!)

Israel’s spooks tried to get South African spooks to stop a war crimes investigation in Gaza.

The CIA wanted South Africa’s help contacting Hamas despite the fact that it’s illegal under American law, depending on their intent.

MI6’s attempt to recruit a North Korean “asset”. (No, 007 was not involved.)

An assassination plot against an African Union official. (Btw, South Africa along with every other African country except Morocco is a member of the AU.)

As to the source of the leaks? Nobody ain’t sayin’ nutin”! However, due to the content mixture, there is speculation that there just might be a hole in SSA’s plumbing.

Haaretz, Israel’s answer to the NYT (paper-of-record and all that journalistic stuff) has already jumped on the story, centering on the Iranian nuclear assessment.

A bit of background to refresh your memory: In September, 2012 Bibi addressed the U.N. General Assembly telling them,

“By next spring, at most by next summer, at current enrichment rates, they will have finished the medium enrichment and move on to the final stage.”

However, less than a month later, Mossad told their South African counterparts, that Iran was,

“not performing the activity necessary to produce weapons….doesn’t appear to be ready to enrich uranium to the higher levels needed for a nuclear bomb.”

According to Al Jezeera,

“That view tracks with the 2012 U.S. National Intelligence estimate, which found no evidence that Iran had thus far taken a decision to use its nuclear infrastructure to build a weapon, or that it had revived efforts to research warhead design that the US said had been shelved in 2003.”

That probably explains why Obama didn’t get all panic-y. Instead, he told Bibi to “hold his water” and that there was sufficient time to broker an arrangement. And, as you might have noticed, it’s been almost 2 1/2 years and no “Final Stage” in sight!

More revelations as the documents become available. I, for one, can’t wait!

Over the last few months, I’ve written a few posts about domestic terrorism as exemplified by the “Sovereign Citizens Movement” and their ilk. I’d love to play “Tame-Stream Media” and write about more “fun stuff” instead, but domestic terrorism is way too dangerous to ignore.

The DHS report, written with assistance from the FBI, chronicles 24 Sovereign Citizen attacks in the U.S. from 2010-14. (Not surprisingly, almost all occurred in “Red States” or red areas of “Blue or Purple States”.)“Sovereign Citizens” do not consider themselves Americans, they are citizens, and rulers of their own nation. The only laws they recognize are their own twisted interpretations of common law, and in some cases, some of the parts of the Constitution and Bill of Rights that they like. They are not subject to any other laws by anybody. In their world, slavery is legal. (No 13th Amendment.) No “uppity” women voters. (No 19th Amendment.) They reject taxation as illegitimate. Oh, and they think that the dollar is illegitimate as well. (But, they’ll take all of yours they can get.)

According to the report,

“(Sovereign citizen) violence during 2015 will occur most frequently during routine law enforcement encounters at a suspect’s home, during enforcement stops and at government offices….law enforcement officers will remain the primary target of (sovereign citizen) violence over the next year due to their role in physically enforcing laws and regulations.”

SPLC REPORT

On the 12th, (2/12/15) the Southern Poverty Law Center released “Age of the Wolf“. [pdf] “A Study of the Rise of Lone Wolf and Leaderless Resistance Terrorism”. The study, which focused on both homegrown Jihadi and Wing-nut terrorism, found that 75% of domestic terror incidents were carried out by right-wing, lone wolf extremists.

“Our study clearly shows the urgent need for federal agencies to reinvigorate their work studying and analyzing the radical right. And it’s important to recognize the trend away from organized groups committing acts of domestic terror. As Timothy McVeigh demonstrated with the Oklahoma City bombing, lone wolves and small cells of domestic terrorists can create massive carnage….It is imperative that authorities, including those gathering at the White House next week, take this threat seriously. Anything less would be an invitation to disaster.”

The study found that between April 1st, 2009 and February 1st, 2015, on average, an attack by right-wing radicals was either carried out or foiled every 34 days. A timeline included with the report lists six years of plots and attacks across the country. Some you may have heard of, most you won’t. Among the memorable:

(2/18/2010) Anti-taxer, Andrew Joseph Stack III deliberately crashed his single-engine plane into Building I of the Echelon office complex (I.R.S. Headquarters) in Austin, Texas. The attack left two men (including Stack) dead and 13 persons injured.

(8/5/2012) A Neo-Nazi named Wade Michael Page attacked a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, killing six and wounding four others.

(8/16/2012) Two “Sovereign Citizens” were pulled over for a traffic violation. The traffic stop resulted in two wounded policemen. A week later, two policemen were killed and two others wounded when an attempt to arrest two suspects resulted in a shootout.

(6/8/2014) Fresh off the “Bundy standoff“, “Citizens” Jerad and Amanda Miller decided that there were too many cops in Las Vegas, so they killed a couple.

The SPLC says there are about 300,000 members and “fellow travelers” with about 100,000 in the hard-core center.

FBI REPORT

This isn’t the first warning we’ve had about right-wing domestic terrorism. Back during the Bush League administration, the DHS staff wrote a report [pdf] on the possible military veteran recruitment by wing-nut militia groups. The report wasn’t published until after George was safely back in Texas and that “Kenyan” occupied his office, so Barack got the heat.

The Right played the “victim of government harassment” card, as usual. Veterans groups were also up-in-arms. They were insulted that someone would think they would ever use their military training against their trainers, despite all the ex-military already in the Militias.

Janet Napolitano was head of DHS by this time and she promptly did what most Dems do in situations like this. She folded! (I don’t call most Dems “Gutless Blunders” for nothing!) She ended up criticizing DHS for the report.

The summit concentrated mostly on using Imams and community groups to dissuade potential jihadists. Despite the DHS & SPLC reports, there was no focus on Sovereign Citizen types or organized militias. Just potential Islamic terrorists. (Like I said, “Gutless Blunders”!)

In a bit of see-through ass covering, an administration official explained that the White House is focused on all terrorists. (Just not at this summit, I suppose.)

As some of my readers already know, I’m a huge history fanboy. (Or is that “fanoldman”?) As such I seem to recall another government that ignored its internal right-wing threat to concentrate its efforts on a group of “different people”. That was the Weimar Republic. Most people know it as pre-Hitler Germany!

Like this:

(Quick note: This post is NOT an attack on religion. This post is an attack on those who twist religion to benefit themselves.)

It must be getting close to election season, the “god guys” are starting to rear their heads. (Or is it the other way around?)

You might remember the last time, when Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum all claimed that YHWH told them to run. You might also remember that every one of them LOST! Which proves that either they’re hearing strange voices in their heads, they’re lying, or Big Daddy is a hell of a practical joker. The question is, who’s the butt of the jokes?

As I said, the self-proclaimed, “god-commissioned” candidates are hearing voices again. Mike “the Huckster” Huckabee is already claiming Big Daddy’s presidential blessing. The Huckster used to be a bible thumper, so I guess he figures he’s got the inside track.

Ben Carson has said “I feel fingers” of God touching me, telling me to run in 2016. (Hmmm, I wonder what part of his body God’s fingers are touching?)

Ted Cruz’ daddy, Rafael, has been spreading the word about Teddy’s mission from God for several years. (I’ve got to do a post on Rafael one of these days. He makes Teddy sound almost sane!) Teddy’s mission supposedly has something to do with his being among the evangelical Christians who are anointed as “kings” to take control of all sectors of society.

“My son is an anointed King, destined to take control of all sectors of society.”

Ooooh kaaaay, moving right along.

That brings us to the primary target of today’s tirade: The 2nd runner-up in the Alfred E. Neuman Lookalike Contest and current Louisiana Guv, Bobby Jindal.At one time, Brother Bobby was considered an intellectual and a reformer. He even told Republicans to “stop being the stupid party” and end “dumbed-down conservatism”.

This was the same venue that Rick Perry used to kick off his Presidential pipe dream in 2011. Although Cuzin Ricky packed in over 35,000, Brother Bobby ran several thousand short of the rally’s 13,215 butt capacity. (In his own state?)

Evangelicals love “born again” stories, and Bobby’s right up their back alley! He was born Hindu and converted to Christianity. A major portion of his speech concerned his “journey into the light”. This was accompanied by slams on other faiths of course. (Always a big hit with the “Religious Wrong”.)

European “no-go zones” got an airing along with the threat that they were comin’ to “Murica” because Obama. He also gave an update on the War of the Gods:

“Our God wins!”

Ok, so a “C” list presidential candidate gives a speech before a religious group. So what!

As my grand-pappy used to say.

“If you want to know who somebody is, know who their friends are.”

So, let’s take a look at who Brother Bobby has gotten into bed with. The sponsors of this shindig, the American Family Association is a pseudo “Christian” organization that has been labeled a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center with good reason.

“Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews.”

“But by the time of the founding until the late 20th Century, homosexual activity was a felony in the United States of America, there is no reason why it cannot be a criminal offense once again, absolutely none.”

On Muslims:

“Muslims, by custom and religion, are simply unwilling to integrate into cultures with Western values and it is folly to pretend otherwise. In fact, they remain dedicated to subjecting all of America to sharia law and are working ceaselessly until that day of Islamic imposition comes.”

On Native Americans:

“Many of the tribal reservations today remain mired in poverty and alcoholism because many native Americans continue to cling to the darkness of indigenous superstition instead of coming into the light of Christianity and assimilating into Christian culture.”

On welfare:

“Welfare has destroyed the African-American family by telling young black women that husbands and fathers are unnecessary and obsolete. Welfare has subsidized illegitimacy to offering financial rewards to women who have more children out of wedlock. We have incentivized fornication rather than marriage and it’s no wonder we are now awash in the disastrous social consezuences of people who rut like rabbits.”

On the 1st Amendment:

“I have contended for years that the First Amendment, as give by the Founders, provides religious liberty protections for Christianity only.”

All-in-all, that doesn’t sound like a mission from the “God” I learned about in Sunday School.

And, one final quote from an “A” list Founding Father:

“History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance, of which their political as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purpose.”— Thomas Jefferson letter to Baron von Humboldt, (1813)

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Sarah Palin’s book royalties and speaker fees must be down. Sister Sarah has stated that she is “seriously interested” in running for President in 2016. (I think that’s called “Pulling a Trump“.)

In hope that she’ll do it, Tea Baggers are slapping “Run Sarah Run” bumper stickers on the back of their cars. (Progressives have theirs on the front!)

Like all Presidential wannabes, (serious or pseudo) Sarah tends to gravitate to Iowa a lot and somehow I don’t think it’s for the climate.

In that vein, she dropped into Des Moines to address Steve King’s Iowa Freedom Summit. At least her body did. From all reports, it seems that her brain just might have missed the plane.

Bare in mind that this is Sarah “Todd’s got the gun and I’ve got the rack!” Palin, but even by that standard, this was “interesting”! FYI, this time she didn’t use “hand notes” but she did make use of a teleprompter.

And, that’s where it gets interesting. The teleprompter froze!

Now, Sarah was supposed to be giving a long speech. Unless you really know your stuff, a teleprompter or copious notes are invaluable. The good(?) news is that she brought along a whole binder of notes. The bad(?) news is that there didn’t seem to be any coherent organization to them. Add to that the fact that she may well have been a bit unnerved by the situation. Nervous people tend to talk faster and as one reporter wrote, she delivered “an entire speech in one incredibly long run-on sentence”

Here are a few of her more interesting mouth droppings.

“The man can only ride you when your back is bent. So strengthen it! Then the man can’t ride you. America won’t get taken for a ride, because so much is at stake.

On Obamacare:

“What will they do to stop causing our pain, and start feeling it again? Well, in other words, um – Is Hillary a New Democrat or an old one?”

On “American Sniper”:

“Screw the left in Hollywood!”

On Hillary:

“Now I’m ready for Hillary Are you? Are you coming? “

“Now the press asks, the press asks, “Can anyone stop Hillary?” Again, this is to forego a conclusion, right? It’s to scare us off, to convince us that – a pantsuit can crush patriots?”

On 2016:

“Knowing what the media will do throughout 2016 to all of us, it’s going to take more than a village to beat Hillary…We the people, we realize that this is war, as I say, it is war for the solvency, the sovereignty of the United States of America. And we don’t sit on our thumbs this next time when one of our own is being crucified and falsely accused of whatever the hip activation of the day happens to be, right? Racism, sexism, whatever. Really, it’s kind of Orwellian observing how that works, that rule of Saul Alinsky’s I suppose, that the left employs. Disgusting charges from the left. You know, reverse them. It is they who point a finger who don’t realize they have triple that number of fingers pointing right back at them, revealing that they are the ones who really discriminate and divide. “

Of course, she also took some time to whine that the “Lame Stream Media” was trying to crucify her because of that fun photo she was in.(Maybe she’s just trying to figure out what the missing letter is.)

She also said they were nailing her to the cross over letting her son stand on their dog:

“They’re howling through the press, you know, ‘cruelty to animals, Sarah Palin. Which surprised me considering what it does that Joni does to those poor defenseless really great tasting Iowa hogs.”

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Here we go again! Another Regressive politician throwing a tantrum over gay marriage.

Oklahoma State Rep/Assembly of God Minister (Isn’t that a conflict of interests?) Todd Russ is mad and he’s not going to take it any more!

“There’s a lot of constituents and people across the state who are not through pushing back on the federal government for the slam down they’ve given us with Supreme Court rulings.”

Todd has decided if Oklahoma can’t ban gay marriages, then by jinkies, they shouldn’t be in the marriage business at all. He’s proposed a bill to eliminate the state issuing marriage licenses at all.

Don’t panic! There will still be marriages, but they’ll be of the “God Approved” variety.

Instead of the state getting involved, he wants religious officials to perform the marriages and issue marriage certificates, which would then be filed with a court clerk.

“Marriages are not supposed to be a government thing anyway.”

Judges would no longer be allowed to perform marriages and any couple deemed unfit to wed by the so-called religious officials, would have to file an affidavit of common law marriage.

Common law marriages aren’t great when it comes to legal status. All marriage rights DO NOT APPLY! (Can you say “2nd class citizens”?)

Todd says he just wants to protect those poor county clerks from the trauma of betraying their “religious” principles by having to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Todd did make one major boo-boo. The bill, as written, only applies to Christian or Jewish religious officials: “…an ordained or authorized preacher or minister of the Gospel, priest or other ecclesiastical dignitary of any denomination who has been duly ordained or authorized by the church to which he or she belongs to preach the Gospel, or a rabbi.”

So if you’re Islamic, Buddhist, or YHWH forbid, a (shudder) Atheist, TOUGH BEANS! Get in the Common Law line!

Now, Todd may not consider any other religions valid. But the Supreme Court does!

Since we’re talking about Oklahoma, it shouldn’t surprise you that this isn’t they only “stop gay marriage” bill working its way through the process. State Rep Sally Kern wants a law making it legal to quit paying any public employee who issues a marriage license to a gay or lesbian couple.

If either one of these (or other such) bills pass, the legal fireworks will be fun to watch.

Like this:

“Make the lie big. Make it simple. Keep repeating it and eventually they’ll believe it.” Joseph Goebbels

Years ago (decades actually, but who’s counting) I was pursuing my degree in Mass Communications at Arizona State University. Several of the classes leading to that degree were of the journalism variety and one of the first things they taught us was that reporting the news required impartiality.

Despite appearances over the last few years, it seems they still try to teach journalistic ethics, at least in one Vermont high school.

Last year Fox’s Bill Reilly sent one of his ambush interview producers to Bennington, Vermont to expose the city as a bunch of pot smokers, ski bums and (gasp) LIBERALS! (No real “Muricans” in sight.)

Students studying journalism at Mount Anthony Union High School in Bennington decided to use this as a case study for a “professional integrity audit” based on the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics.

Turns out they found so many ethics violations, they lost count. In their words,

“Based on our studies about the field of journalism, we have determined that you’re not practicing journalism. You’re practicing rank propaganda.” […]

“By watching Fox News, we have learned buckets about journalism – what to do and, more importantly, what never to do. It is our hope that Fox News can learn the very same from watching us.”

Roger Ailes set out to create a conservative propaganda outlet when he built Fox News. That he succeeded is discouraging. That he gets called out by high schoolers is encouraging.

Roger got his big start in the 1968 Nixon campaign. (Why am I not surprised about that?)

Working as Nixon’s “executive producer for television”, Ailes manufactured a series of fake news events, then paid TV stations to run them as if they were real news. (Seems like ol’ Rog has been into fake news long before FOX.)

Fired by Nixon after the election, he later was put in charge of the newsroom for Television News Incorporated. TVN was a pet project of Joseph Coors, the archconservative beer baron. (Loved his beer, hated his politics.)

The business plan was to provide news clips that stations could use as their own for a small percentage of normal production costs. Once the stations were hooked on the discounted clips, according to its President, TVN would “gradually, subtly, slowly” inject “our philosophy in the news.” Btw, the network’s motto was “Fair & Balanced”. (Ring a bell?)

There was just one problem. TVN made the mistake of hiring professional journalists who revolted over such crap. One news director who quit said the network was a “propaganda machine.” Of course those that didn’t quit in protest, were summarily fired and replaced. (Roger learned never to make the mistake of hiring real news people again.)

There used to be a time in this country when a propaganda organization wouldn’t have been allowed. At the time, all broadcast media had to conform to the “Fairness Doctrine“.

The doctrine “required the holders of broadcast licenses to both present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was, in the Commission’s view, honest, equitable and balanced.” (No relation to B.S. Mtn’s “Fair & Balanced”.) That all went away when Saint Reagan was elected President. His F.C.C. dumped it in 1985.

Interestingly enough, Canada still has a law on the books that keeps Fox out of their hen-house. (And believe me, Fox has tried to break in!) It seems they have this silly law that requires news media to tell the truth, as far as they know it.